DLC (Diamond-Like Carbon) is suitable for a surface protective layer, and a protective layer formed by a sputtering method or CVD method (Chemical Vapor Deposition method) is applied. Reduction of the magnetic gap between a magnetic recording layer and a magnetic head can increase a recording density. It is therefore necessary to thin a surface protective layer. To achieve this, a protective film that can satisfy a durability requirement even if the film is an ultrathin film has been required. Studies have been made on using, as a surface protective layer, a ta-C (tetrahedral amorphous carbon) film having durability and corrosion resistance higher than those of a conventional film.
When forming a ta-C film using a vacuum arc deposition apparatus, it is known that carbon is used as a cathode target. At the time of arc discharge, particles (cathode material fine particles) are emitted from an arc spot (cathode spot) formed on the surface of the cathode target in addition to carbon ions (cathode material ions). If the particles adhere to the substrate surface, the uniformity of the thin film decreases. As a method of preventing the particles from adhering to the substrate, for example, PTL 1 discloses an arrangement in which a baffle for removing particles is provided in an inner wall portion of a curved transport magnetic filter.